Chanukah Remixes for Y'all!

Atrocious Yiddish transliteration aside, here's a Hanukah remix project from Tablet. And you thought Orrin Hatch's song was fun!

Confidential to the waiter...

... who spilled the entire box of donuts for desert on the floor while setting up the desert buffet before the party. We saw you!

In Review: Ten Recent Albums

Just in time for the Hanukah gift buying season…

1) Jay Rapoport - "With All Your Heart"

Pianist/vocalist Jay Rapoport calls his style of Jewish music “Ruach Rock!”
Blending rock/gospel style piano and keyboards with educational lyrics, Rapoport sings of the importance of asking questions, exercising your Judaism, Torah study vs. action, and more.

Rapoport teaches at the Religious School of Congregation Rodeph Shalom in NYC, for which he wrote several of these songs, to musically reinforce each year’s educational theme.

I’d describe this set as Hebrew school lessons recast as rock songs; where the venue is a classroom instead of a pub. If my Yeshiva teachers had turned their lessons into rock songs, I’d have paid more attention in class, I’m sure.

Jay’s website is here: here.

Amazon has the album here:



2) Richard Locker - "Masterpieces in Transcription"

Cellist Richard Locker's "Masterpieces in Transcription" is a wonderful set featuring Locker's classical cello playing a nice program of songs. Of special interest is his solo performance of three transcriptions of Yossele Rosenblatt recitatives, “N’kadesh”, “Mimkom’cho”, and “Mi Sheberach.”

On this disc, in addition to the aforementioned Rosenblatt recitatives: Cesar Frank’s “Sonata in A Major”, Tchaikovsky’s “Entra'acte Symphonique Pour M. Leopold Auer” from “The Sleeping Beauty” and “Pas D' Action” from “Swan Lake”, Mozart’s “Rondo in C” (K. 373), Paganini’s “Caprice Op.1, No. 13”, George Perelman’s “Hebraisch” and “Hebrew Chant and Dance”, and Torrie Zito’s “Ballade.”

Locker has a beautiful warm resonant tone and both the cello and piano (there are several pianists on this recording) is wonderful throughout. I particularly enjoyed the performance of the Perelman pieces, which were new to me. (“Hebrew Chant and Dance” is based on the Yiddish melody I know as “Sha Shtil.”)

Richard Locker's website is here.

Amazon has the album here:



3) Three CD's of solo accordion music by Zevy Zions - "Olive Blossoms", "Dizzy Accordion", and "William Tell"

Zevy Zions is a fantastic accordion player. Zions, who plays accordion with Klezmerfest, and was the accordionist on Andy Statman’s “Learn to Play Klezmer” video for Homespun Records, has studied accordion with legendary accordionist Charles Nunzio.

Recently, he recorded a series of albums featuring mainly traditional accordion repertoire, adaptations of Classical music, and some klezmer. These albums are all excellent, and I’m hard put to single one out. There are lots of classic accordion songs by Frosini, Nunzio, and Gart, particularly on the first two albums, and lots of arrangements of classical repertoire too, especially on the third, “William Tell.”

As far as klezmer/Jewish music content, each album includes a Klezmer suite and “Dizzy Accordion” has versions of “Sharon’s Bulgar” and “Firn Di Mekhotinim Aheim”. “Olive Blossoms” has an arrangement of “Keili, Keili.” The klezmer suites consist of a doina, zhok, and freylakhs or --on "William Tell"-- a forshpiel, tekisher, and freylakhs. On Olive Blossoms, the doina is followed by a Jacob Hoffman zhok and then a killing version of “Oy Tate S’iz Gut!” On “Dizzy Accordion”, the suite is a doina, “Nokh A Glezyzl Vayn”, and “Tante’s Bulgar.” On “William Tell”, a forshpiel is followed by “Araber Tants” and then “Kalla’s Freylakh.”

I’ve been a fan of Zions’ accordion work with Klezmerfest. (I reviewed their latest here.)These discs are a nice opportunity to hear him solo.

Incidentally, Zions is looking for opportunities to perform some of this repertoire, so if you have any, please let him know.

Zevy Zions's website is here.

Amazon has “Olive Blossoms” here:



Amazon has “Dizzy Accordion” here:



Amazon has "William Tell" here:




4) Shlock Rock - "A Shabbat in Liverpool"

Here’s a concept. Set texts of Kabbalat Shabbat and Shabbat Zemirot to Beatles melodies. On this recording, Shlock Rock bandleader Lenny Solomon does just that. The result is an album of familiar melodies and familiar texts.

Some of the adaptations are:
“Shalom Aleichem” to “With A Little Help From My Friends”.
“Lo Tevoshi” to “Penny Lane”.
“Yigdal” to “When I’m Sixty-Four”.
“Ein Kelokeinu” to “Let It Be”.
“Askinu Seudoso” to “Come Together”.

Sacrilegious? To the Beatles? To the texts? Why not check out the album and decide for yourself?

The Shlock Rock website is here.

Amazon has the album here:



5) Asher Hillel Burstein - "Am Kadosh"
Safam meets Billy Joel. Chazan Asher Burstein’s Am Kadosh features his his original music and Hebrew lyrics as well as settings of some liturgical texts. This outing also reminds of Jonathan Rimberg and Jeff Braverman’s Shoresh collaboration.

Much like Safam, Am Kadosh mines the intersection between American pop and traditional Jewish song modalities. Burstein’s voice is in great form here. “Tefilat HaTam” is a pretty waltz. “Shir HaShabbat” is a debka. “Mhayra” is a freylakhs. “HaGevul” is a funky tune with some jazzy brass. “Limdu” is a khosidl. Album closer “Gott Fun Avrohom” is a fifteen-minute through-composed piece.

Lyrical topics include simple faith, Shabbat, redemption, and more.

The album is available at the Am Kadosh website.

6) Yiddish Princess - "Yiddish Princess EP"

If Jon Bon Jovi and Kate Bush had a love child…

On their debut EP, Yiddish Princess features their hard-rocking settings of trad Yiddish songs. Fave tracks include “Ver Vet Blayben” “Oy Avram” and “Az Nisht Keyn Emune”, but the whole thing is great.

Vocalist Sarah Gordon (Yiddish diva Adrienne Cooper’s daughter), is supported by a powerhouse rock band, which includes Avi Fox-Rosen and Yoshie Fruchter on guitars, and Klez clarinet virtuoso Michael Winograd on synths! I wanna sub in this band!

Don’t miss this one!

The band's website is here.

Amazon has the EP here:



7) Eden - "The Knock At The Door"
Eden reinvents themselves for this outing, featuring a harder “alternative” sound. This EP includes five songs: “Yigdal”, “Lo Yisa Goy”, “The One Above”, “Lecha Dodi”, and “Kaddish”.

Eden is: David Ben-Yshay - Vocals, Bass Guitar, Moshe Axelrod – Guitar, Motti Shanet – Drums.

Eden's website is here.

Amazon has the EP here:



8) Julie Silver - "Reunion"

I’d seen Julie Silver’s name around for a while, but first became aware of her music through her beautiful “Sim Shalom” on the Ruach 5761 compilation.

“Reunion” is Silver’s first new release in ten years.

This album features 12 songs, including three settings of liturgical texts, “Dodi Li”, “R’fa-einu”, and “Halleluya (Psalm 150)”, and nine songs with original English lyrics. “Meditation” includes the “Yehiyu L’ratzon” and original English lyrics. The music is soft pop/rock.

On “Step By Step”, Silver sings about entering the “water of creation.”

“Barefoot Sisters” is a song about a meeting with St. Patrick on a mountain. It seems like an odd choice for a Jewish-themed album. One “40 days on the mountain” reference is the only tenuous Jewish connection I see to this song. In the song, Silver asks “What would St. Patrick do?”

“Guide My Steps” is a prayer asking for guidance. Silver duets nicely here with a male vocalist. (The digital album they sent me doesn’t include any liner notes or info about who this singer is.)

“Been To Canaan” features smooth jazz style saxophone. Sample lyric: “Because I’ve been to Canaan and I won’t rest until I go back again.

On “Where Am I”, Silver sings about how she feels about the Torah portion about vows, which tells how men can annul their wives/unmarried daughters vows.

Julie's website is here.

Amazon has the album here:



9) Peter and Ellen Allard - "Little Taste of Torah"

Peter and Ellen Allard write hooky singable songs for children. This album is a great example of their approach. There are songs for Chagim like Tu B’Shvat (“For Trees”), Rosh Hashana (“Shofar Blast”), Yom Kippur (“May You Be Sealed”). There are songs about Lashon Hara, Baby Moses, Torah, Kriyat Yam Suf (“Nachshon” and “Wall of Water”), Tzedaka, and more.

The vocals and music on this are excellent and the songs are both educational and a lot of fun. Well-performed Jewish kiddie rock that parents will enjoy too.

I like this one a lot.

The Allards' website is here.

Amazon has the album here:



10) Prodezra Beats - "Proud to Be" EP

The follow-up to his “Beats L’shem Shomayim” (which I reviewed here), “Proud To Be” sounds more produced. I liked the rougher “street” sound of BLS more. This is a deeply Jewish rap EP.

"Faith" is about emunah. “Faith in the face of a world of drama. The man with emunah, ain’t nobody calmer…”

“Let Me In”, a duet with Nachman, is about coming closer to God.

“Proud to Be” is my fave track on this one. Powerful lyrics and nice synth background. Check this: “cause I’m a Lubab, Litvish, Breslov, shtreiml-wearing Jew….”

“Soul of Moshiach is an instrumental arrangements of the Chabad nigun, best known as “We Want Moshiach Now”.

Amazon has it here:



Up next, reviews of Craig Taubman's latest, "How Good" and the forthcoming reissue of Marty Levitt's - "King of the Klezmers". (I'd promised a review of that one, but am holding off until the new distributorship puts the album back in print.)

Not By Might - The Debbie Friedman Cover Band

This is too funny!



Via Teruah - Jewish Music.

From Jail to Judaism

In today's NY Times..."Shyne Finds Order in Orthodox Judaism in Israel."

11/9/10 Link Dump

The latest installment of Jeremiah Lockwood's Nigun Project, "Through the Castle at Night", is up at the Forward. This time, a Modzitzer Nigun.

Don Imus: Jewish Music Critic.

This was a great show. Adrienne Cooper's new recording, "Enchanted" is definitely worth checking out. Amazon has it here:



Here are some brief music reviews at Hadassah Magazine.

Rav Shmuel writes about "Jewish Music That Makes Me Laugh Uncomfortably."

Vos Iz Neias posts an "Exclusive Video Interview With Israeli Breslov Hit Singer Yosef Karduner."

iPhone? "There's An App For That!"

Over at J-Post.com... "Fastest Guitar In the West."

Vodkazak re-release with overdubs as "Chassidic Breeze." With,Alicia Svigals, Jeff Warschauer, Marty Confurius, Sy Kushner, and Aaron Alexander.

Amazon has it here:



No comment! Uncle Moishy Vitamins, Cereal and Pizza!

Life in Israel tell MBD to stop bellyaching.

Finally, here's Y-Love with a nice Yechi Hamelech T-shirt.

From the mailbag...

Some reader comments on "One-Man-Band"...

Steven writes:

I appreciate the humor/sarcasm however for the most part they get the job done and save the customer lots of cash. I much prefer the 'real band' experience but most non musicians don't really care one way or another.

This is a common myth. Actually, for the going rate for a good one-man-band plus "Srully Reverb", you can have a good small live band at your affair.

"Jewish Musician" writes:

BloginDm,

I regularly follow your blog, and generally enjoy it, but this is my first time commenting, as it just got me so enraged.

Below is your post. Underneath each point is my comments in bold.

I am a regular chassidic one man band in the NY wedding scene.
-------------

1) Two women emerge from around the mechitza and approach the "musician" with the following request. "Can you possibly turn down/off the speaker on the women's side. We understand that, for the men, its geshmak like this. By the ladies, its too loud."
The fun part was that the speaker on the women's side was already off. Gives an idea of the volume, though.

My comment - Perhaps the customer requested it "Super loud" - I don't know of any fellow musicians that enjoy playing loud, this is what the crowd wants to hear, this is what we have to do in order to get the gigs, if we don't, someone else will.

2) Carlebach's V'hayu Limshisa as a 4/4 rock song! Arranger technology can make even a one finger player sound way better than he deserves. That said, the musician still does need to be able to tell the difference between counting to three and counting to four.

My comment - You are correct, this is wrong.

3) Who said musicians need to present properly/dress up for simchas? Apparently, there's no need to shave, put on a jacket, tie, or even tuck in your shirt.

My comment - This is not Marina, its Ateres Shlomo, we are generally working for a crowd that doesn't care if we wear a tie. That being said, showing up Mentchlich is definitely the right thing to do.

4) Apparently, disco is the style of choice for "dinner" music. Who knew?

My comment - YES, out of North jersey and the Five Towns, alot of the crowd we work for prefer a slow type of disco during dinner.

5) All Am/C Major, all the time!

My comment - Not necessarily, maybe just the guy you saw. Many of the regulars in the scene are very talented musicians, despite never going to Julliard etc.

My overall comments: You can't paint an entire industry with one brush based on one musician. There are plenty of chassidim that are extremely talented musicians and true professionals. A little ahavas yisrool is in order.

Let's take a look at "Jewish Musician's" assertions.

1) I happen to know, based on past conversations with these baalei simcha, that they don't want music to be too loud at their events. The reality is that people are often busy/involved/distracted at their own affairs, and so they pay less attention to volume, as long as the guests seem to be dancing etc. There's a range between "comfortable" and "I need to stop participating in my own simcha to go over to the band." Obviously it varies from event to event.

3) When I play at Ateres Shlomo, I wear a suit and tie. This is not about whether or not someone wears a tie or not though. It's about a community where people wear their jackets to go to the grocery store, but can't be bothered to show respect to their clients/the guests at a lower budget affair. (Ateres Shlomo is a subsidized hall.) The fact that people have become used to it is a shame, not an argument for why to continue the practice. Wear a tie or not, but dressing respectfully is important.

4) I'm not talking about "lite" disco. I'm talking about busting out the full volume "Ease On Down The Road" "Ben Bag Bag" set right after a dance set. The guests have sat down, peaople are trying to socialize, and this guy is busting out That's The Way, Uh, Huh, Uh, Hu, I Like It "Zoche" at full volume!

5) The post was not meant to be a criticism of all one -man-bands. There are definitely some talented Chassidic musicians. That said, simcha-goers know that the situation I described is not an uncommon occurrence.

One-Man-Band

I had the privilege of guesting at a simcha recently in one-man-bandville. 'twas an informative experience.

A few high (low?) points.

1) Two women emerge from around the mechitza and approach the "musician" with the following request. "Can you possibly turn down/off the speaker on the women's side. We understand that, for the men, its geshmak like this. By the ladies, its too loud."
The fun part was that the speaker on the women's side was already off. Gives an idea of the volume, though.

2) Carlebach's V'hayu Limshisa as a 4/4 rock song! Arranger technology can make even a one finger player sound way better than he deserves. That said, the musician still does need to be able to tell the difference between counting to three and counting to four.

3) Who said musicians need to present properly/dress up for simchas? Apparently, there's no need to shave, put on a jacket, tie, or even tuck in your shirt.

4) Apparently, disco is the style of choice for "dinner" music. Who knew?

5) All Am/C Major, all the time!

Behind On Reviews

So, I've fallen woefully behind on reviews and the stack has been piling up...

I've just loaded the review CD's/zip files into iTunes, and am hoping to get to them in the near future.

Here's what's on tap.

1) Jay Rapoport - "With All Your Heart"
2) Richard Locker - "Masterpieces in Transcription"
3) Three CD's of solo accordion music by Zevy Zions - "Olive Blossoms", "Dizzy Accordion", and "William Tell"
4) Shlock Rock - "A Shabbat in Liverpool"
5) Asher Hillel Burstein - "Am Kadosh"
6) Yiddish Princess - "Yiddish Princess EP"
7) Eden - "The Knock At The Door"
8) Julie Silver - "Reunion"
9) Marty Levitt - "King of the Klezmers"
10) Peter and Ellen Allard - "Little Taste of Torah"
11) Prodezra Beats - "Proud to Be" EP

More On Rabbi Amnon Yitzchak's Ban

Parshablog posts "Why We Should Ignore Rav Amnon Yitzchak's Latest Kol Korei."

Ovae at Rationalist Judaism, Rabbi Natan Slifkin posts " New Concert Ban."

Rabbi Amnon Yitzchak Makes Stuff Up (Ban content)

In the previous post, I linked to a widely publicized report that "R’ Elyashiv Refuses to Sign Israeli Ban On Chasidic Music ."

This past August, Life in Israel posted a video of Rabbi Amnon Yitzchak attempting to get Rav Shteinman to sign onto a ban against one such singer, without success. That video is also a sad example of how people attempt to manipulate these elderly rabbis.

Now Life in Israel reports that Rabbi Amnon Yitzchak has publicized the following ban against Jewish concert singers.



It bans concerts whether or not they are separate seating events.

The bullet points:
1) These concerts are prohibited both in Israel and in "chutz la'aretz."
2) The prohibition includes everyone, organizers, participants, men. women, children, and especially the singers who are "machtiei es harabim" (lit: induce the public to sin).
3) It is prohibited for newspapers etc. to accept ads/publicize these events.
4) Those singers who appear at these events may not be invited to sing at any event, including tefilot and "kosher" occasions i.e. at simchas.

The postscript says that one should not sing any of these artists songs even at kosher events, mitzvah celebrations, etc. (The ban explicitly states that this postscript was agreed to by all of the signers. Two of the alleged signers? Rav Eliashiv and Rav Shteinman.

Nice. Once again, a huge chillul Hashem on the part of those opposed to this music and these events.

Amnon Yitzchak FAIL

According to VIN, "R’ Elyashiv Refuses to Sign Israeli Ban On Chasidic Music."

9/21/10 Link Dump

Teruah has some thoughts about Jeremiah Lockwod's Nigun Project.

"Ripped from the news... "Dude, You Have No Koran!"


One of the original Elders at the late Protocols blog muses "On Music, or When More is More ."

Odelia Berlin, daughter of legendary clarinetist Mousa Berlin plays and sings "Machnisei Rachamim."

Life in Israel posts "Ayn Yiush BaOlam."

“Vos vet zayn?”

Here's a lovely little ditty from Micahel Wex's latest, set to music by German bassist Heiko Lehmann and friends.

In Which Dm Gets Mussar

Yaakov writes:

Your blog is excellent, although you need to do Teshuva for posting a version of “Who by Fire” that does not include Sonny Rollins!

"Who By Fire"

0:21 to 1:05 of this clip is essentially Yom Kippur Davening Al Regel Achas.

It was a deliberate choice. But, this is a great version too.

Can't Get That Annoying Chassidic Disco Song Out OF Your Head?

Unhear it!

From the mailbag...

Allen forwards the following useful sign.


Dovid Kerner writes:

Steve and I recorded a blues version of "Dear Everybody" and posted it to Youtube here.

May we see Gilad ben Aviva back home speedily to enjoy a sweet new year!

Wolf Krakowski forwards a video clip -- "Lomir Trakhtn Nor Fun Haynt" ("Let's Just Think About Today")

Anon from London writes:

I’ve been following your blog for several years now, and I’ve always found it of interest – thanks! I appreciate the balanced commentary (and the lack of comments that might undermine it...) and the humorous bits are always entertaining. I’m from London, so I also enjoy reading about things happening in the US JM world that I wouldn’t know about otherwise.

I got this video in an email from Tunecore this morning – it’s a video response to some blog post that claimed that filesharing is the best thing ever to have happened to music, by someone called Mike Lombardo. I don’t know whether you’ll consider it suitable for posting or not, but I thought you might like it anyway.

Many thanks again for your blog.

Craig writes:

Thank you for writing a critique of "Torah is not Hefker". I found that book in shul today while I was davening shacharis and read it. (Apparently, the book was hefker.) I wanted to check out its claims tonight on the internet and found your critique. I agree that the arguments in the book are weak. Furthermore, halacha has to be exact. The author does not explain how one can recognize whether music is good for the soul or bad for the soul.

One argument that did strike me as interesting as a reason to avoid rock and roll music, David Merrill's experiment with mice. Do you know anything about this?

The experiment with mice and rock music is meaningless. It was not conducted by a scientist under controlled conditions. Even if it had been, there would need to be multiple repetitions of the experiment to account for potential biases. One small experiment is simply statistically irrelevant.

As well, the concept behind the experiment seems to indicate the researcher’s bias against rock and roll. In other words, this was not an objective, neutral experiment. There is no compelling scientific evidence to back up Merrill’s claim.

Aharon writes:

Hi, I read your blog occasionally, and wanted to ask you a question: I learning clarinet, and play mostly contemporary jewish music, from Carelbach to MBD to Lipa, a little old school klezmer, and chassic stuff (like Modzhitz, etc.) I guess most of what I play is the stuff you'd play at a yeshiva-type wedding. Anyway, what keys, if any, are most common in these kinds of music? Are there any specific keys I should be certain to know if I want to eventually play this music with others? Of course, I would eventually learn to play in any key, but where should I devote my efforts first? Am, Dm, Cm, Em? Thanks for any advice you can give me. Aharon.

P.S. I am aware that the clarinet is a transposing instrument. I'm wondering what concert keys I should sound in, I'll take care of the transposition.

That's an interesting question.

The quick answer is, it depends. What are you trying to play? What context? There are some standard keys that wedding bands use for specific songs, so if you're trying to get onto that circuit, it might be worth learning them in those keys. For example, they usually play Od Yishoma in Gm.

That said, there is no specific key that is the "right" key for Jewish music. It depends on the song, range of the singers (if any), and instrumentation used. I would highly recommend not focusing on one key for Jewish music, but rather learning to understand how keys/scales work, and developing the ability to play in all of them.

(Incidentally, I took the time to send this response to Aharon's question when it first came in, but he didn't have the courtesy to thank me. This is something that has been happening too often. It's almost always from people interested in a certain repertoire. If you're going to email someone and ask them to help you, at least show a little basic courtesy.

The Shwekey/Amnon Yitzchak Ban Contretemps Gets Even Weirder

No comment!

U'nesaneh Tokef!

Shana Tovah!

An Important Post...

... at Parsha Blog: "Manipulating the Gedolim: Did Rav Amnon Yitzchak do this to Rav Shteinman?" Excellent questions!

9/1/10 Link Dump

It's been a while...

I want this for my B-day!

A nice review over at the Forward's blog: "These Breslov Tunes Were Saved by Rock & Roll."

Here's a bizarre video. ‘Sinner’ Singer Given "malkas' 39 Lashes By Rabbis.

On the Jazz front, check out this trackby Danny Zamir and Evyatar Banai.

"Jewish Music’s Elite Sing For Rubashkin." No comment. On the same topic, here's "A Song for Sholom."

Hey Ayatollah, Leave Those Kids Alone!

Check this out! Makom on Kobi Oz's Mizmorei Nevuchim. Resources for educators who want to use the material on his new album.

The Second Son compares Jewish and secular songs. Best catch. Lev Tahor's Im Lavan Garti similarity to Lionel Richie's Cinderella.

Patric Aleph writes "Wearing A Yarmulke Got Me Laid." Oy.

Hampton Stevens writes "How Matisyahu's Hasidic Reggae Music Made Me Cry."

Klezmer organ!!!

"Senior Citizen Choir takes on Hip-Hop!"

Abanibi = "Dance Fever"

Augean Stables: "Only Israel has no right to defend itself…"

What? "Rabbinate To Strip Authority of Rabbis Who Sing Under Chuppah."